It is officially Spring!

 Monty has at last awoken from his wintet slumber:

Making the most of the Spring vibes, I also repotted my Mandrake:

And potted up my grapfted Lophora:

Another sure sign Spring is in the air is the new leaves growing on my 31-year-old, Winter-cut, Crassula ovata:

Sad, Happy, Sleepy

Sad start to the day as we picked up our princess pwscat's ashes in the morning. We received a beautiful card from the vet who was with us during fudjcat's last moments earlier in the week:

Whilst out, we also picked up a frame for our recently printed pwscat photo:

Given the start to the day, it wasn"t really the best time four my office Christmas get-together. Bay hey ho.

Yours truly with work mates

'Twas a lovely meet-up, where x2 pre-starter double gins and x4 cider pints meant I soon fell asleep when I got home just after 8pm and brought an early end to the day.

C-RUNCH

Listen to the power of his bite!

Farewell, Furry Princess

Old age took our little furry pwscat this evening. On our vet's advice, she was given a strong steroid injection on Tuesday in the hope that it would give her a week or so window of struggle-free life, where palliative care could allow her to enjoy the last of her dwindling life. But its benefits lasted only a day or so and, within 48 hours, we returned the old lady for further medical care. There, the vet decided it was time to say our tearful, heartfelt goodbyes.

You will always be in our hearts, fudjcat. Our lives will be darker without your furry footsteps at our side. And all I can do right now, is share just a few of our memories of you in happier times. We will always love you. xxxx

Lickle fudjcat with her mum and siblings

Fudge finding instant adoration amongst her new family

fudcat cuddling me

My constant writing companion

Fudge with her favourite Lion King toy, Timon

I will end this post with a short video of her chilling in the freckling Summer sunshine:

#Caturday

 

Glorious Sunshine

It would be a crime not to sit out in the glorious sunshine with Monty and fufjcat today, as Mrs Pixie-Led busied herself around us in the garden.

Pwscat Prowl

A Day in the Garden

The first real warm and sunny day of May. Took the opportunity to sit outside to catch up on some writing and give Monty (who is 20 next month) a much-needed day out in the sunshine :)

My Niciotian rustica plants (centre right in the pic below) are growing nicely, and I am still hopeful of getting them to flower by the end of my GNS zine project:

Some more axolotl pics:

Axolotl (2b)

I have been fascinated with axolotls since childhood, when I inherited an old wildlife book of strange animals. Unfortunately, I no longer have that book to share a picture of it, but one of the animals featured was of a leucistic axolotl. The image of this animal really piqued my interest and I could scarcely believe that such a weird-looking animal could exist in reality. Back in those days, there was no internet and I could find no further reference to such a thing as an axolotl throughout the entirety of my childhood. I believe that this was the first instance in my life that I felt the sense that there was something fascinating in the world that my mind had trouble grasping, and set up my interest in seeking out the extraordinary in the world.

Axolotl (2a)

A Short Gardening Break #9

Hopefully, this will be the last of my short gardening break interlude pics for a while as, after just over two weeks of being treated for acute anxiety, I am beginning to feel more like my old self again. I will get the second draft of my Christmas ghost story out tomorrow and try to do at least a little work on it. Fingers crossed.

For now though, here is a picture I took of my tortoise enjoying the garden yesterday...